Ethnological results of the Point Barrow expedition: Ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1887-1888, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1892, pages 3-442Murdoch, John
History
Ethnological results of the Point Barrow expedition: Ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1887-1888, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1892, pages 3-442
Murdoch, John
Eskimos -- Alaska -- Barrow, Point, Region
They use all kinds of tobacco, but readily distinguish and desire the
sorts considered better by the whites. For instance, they were eager
to get the excellent quality of “Navy” tobacco furnished by the
Commissary Department, while one of our party who had a large quantity
of exceedingly bad fine-cut tobacco could hardly give it away.
A little of the strong yellow “Circassian” tobacco used by the
Russians for trading is occasionally brought up from the southwest,
and perhaps also by the Nunatañmiun, and is very highly prized,
probably because it was in this form that they first saw tobacco.
Snuff seems to be unknown; tobacco is used only for chewing and
smoking. The habit of chewing tobacco is almost universal. Men, women,
and even children, though the latter be but 2 or 3 years old and
unweaned,[N114] when tobacco is to be obtained, keep a “chew,” often
of enormous size, constantly in the mouth. The juice is not spit out,
but swallowed with the saliva, without producing any signs of nausea.
The tobacco is chewed by itself and not sweetened with sugar, as was
observed by Hooper and Nordenskiöld among the “Chukches.”[N115] I knew
but two adult Eskimo in Utkiavwĭñ who did not chew tobacco, and one of
these adopted the habit to a certain extent while we were there.
[Footnote N114: Compare J. Simpson, op. cit., p. 250, and
Nordenskiöld, Vega, vol. 2, p. 116.]
[Footnote N115: Tents, etc., p. 83; Vega, vol. 2, p. 116.]
Tobacco is smoked in pipes of a peculiar pattern called kui´nyɐ, of
which the collection contains a series of ten specimens.
Of these, No. 89288 [705],[N116] figured in Ray’s Point Barrow Report,
Ethnology, Pl. I, Fig. 1, will serve as a type. The bowl is of brass,
neatly inlaid on the upper surface with a narrow ring of copper close
to the edge, from which run four converging lines, 90° apart, nearly
to the center. Round the under surface are also three concentric rings
of copper. The wooden stem appears to be willow or birch, and is in
two longitudinal sections, held together by the lashing of sealskin
thong which serves to attach the bowl to the stem. This lashing was
evidently put on wet and allowed to shrink on, and the ends are
secured by tucking under the turns. The whipping at the mouthpiece is
of fine sinew thread. A picker of steel for cleaning out the bowl is
attached to the stem by a piece of seal thong, the end of which is
wedged under the turns of the lashing. The remaining pipes are all of
the same general pattern, but vary in the material of the bowl and in
details of execution. The stems are always of the same material and
put together in the same way, but are sometimes lozenge-shaped instead
of elliptical in section. The lashing is sometimes of three-ply sinew
braid. The bowl shows the greatest variation, both in form and
material.
[Footnote N116: The numbers first given are those of the National
Museum; the numbers in brackets are those of the collector.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account